SAILING NEWS:IRELAND WAS to the fore in several discussions at last week's World Yacht Racing Forum in Monaco, many of which carried sharp warnings for the sport from external guest-speakers.
The two-day gathering brought 350 delegates together ranging from local authorities and tourism agencies to service companies and many of the top professional sailors. Though commercial organisers and full-time sailors were evident, club and national governing bodies were noticeable by their absence.
President of North Sails Tom Whidden revealed how their $300 million business was performing during the global recession with headline areas of the sport such as Olympic, professional and super-yacht sales holding their own while club level and cruising areas were stagnating.
A starker warning followed from Richard Moore of Capitalise, a sports sponsorship firm. Sailing accounts for less than one per cent of the billion-dollar global sports sponsorship market that is defying recession and predicted to grow by 11 per cent in 2010. But significantly, Moore suggested that sailing risks being seen as a “white dynasty sport” which could compromise its ability to grow.
There were warnings that sailing’s complex hierarchical structures and vast array of international grade events were confusing to potential sponsors.
However, a repeated point was that the passion of sailing’s followers that are real fans rather than occasional spectators is a major asset.
Two examples were cited that confirmed the latent demand for participation in sailing. On-line gamers flocked to take part in the Vendee Globe and Volvo Ocean Race attracting in excess of 200,000 players – each, while the Galway stop-over of the Ocean Race was another regular model repeated during the WYRF thanks to its economic benefit of €55 million and 600,000 combined attendance.
Both examples represented the clear message delivered to last week’s conference.
Beneath the surface of the conference, a question starts to bubble: can the world of commercial yacht racing grow without compromising the existing amateur base of the sport?
